Sild and Mironova won the gold medals of the middle distance event

HAMINA (FIN) - The WMC Orienteering 2017 started yesterday, June 12 with the middle distance race on the Mustalampi course. Altogether 158 men and 56 women challenged themselves under the drizzle and 15°C.

Corporal Timo Sild (EST) and Lieutenant Svetlana Mironova (RUS) managed to win respectively the gold medals of the men and women’s middle distance event. The Estonian, who already won the bronze medal of the long distance event at the 49th WMC Orienteering in São Pedro Da Aldeia, was happy at the finish line. Although he was the last one to start among the pre-race favorites, he crossed the finish line with a 43-seconds lead on the silver medalist Olli-Markus Taivainen, after 5,8 kilometers of orienteering.

“This time I have been able to control my performance better than ever before in my career”, declared Sild about his race. He knew what to expect in the forests of Hamina: “It was very easy to make mistakes along certain parts of the course and therefore it was necessary to remain careful”, revealed Timo as the secret of his success. The long distance event will take place tomorrow and Timo Sild’s objective is to do well, but he knows that he is not the only one wanting the gold medal. “Tomorrow is a new day and everyone is given a new chance”, finished Sild.

The winner expected easier orienteering, but the challenging 4.5 km course was a positive surprise: “The course and the field were a nice combination of very detailed orienteering and featured some variable flatter and unclear parts as well”, Mironova said. She did not think about the victory even though she was one of the pre-race favorites. Instead, her goal was to do a clean race, control her speed and always know her position on the map and on the course. “Every race is like an empty piece of paper on which history will then be recorded”, told Mironova. “I am looking forward to the upcoming races. This terrain is trickier than expected”, she continued.

The host nation Finland had also a good day. Sergeants Olli-Markus Taivainen and Miika Kirmula took respectively the silver and bronze medals. Taivainen was very happy, as he was finally able to fulfill his long-time dream at the World Military Championships Orienteering: “I have been competing in the CISM WMC since 2009, but before today I had never won any individual medal. With this medal, I also want to thank the Finnish Defence Forces for having offered a great support during my orienteering career”, Taivainen said.

Finland’s Miika Kirmula won the bronze medal only nine seconds behind Taivainen: “I’m satisfied with this result even though the seconds were not on my side today”, he commented. Kirmula admitted that he lost those nine seconds many times during the race. He made his biggest mistake at the very end of the race. “Maybe I have lost my concentration when I noticed that the race was almost over and that I was already approaching the finish line”, told Kirmula.